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NASCAR BGN: Todd Bodine Winning Notes from Michigan

22 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

* Second career victory at Michigan Speedway in the NAPAonline.com on August 19, 2000. Bodine won the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series race at Michigan Speedway in 1992.

* 11th career NASCAR Busch Series victory for Bodine and his first of 2000.

* First win for Bodine since the inaugural race at California Speedway in the fall of 1997. The win at Michigan broke a streak of 69 races without scoring a win.

* Bodine is the only NASCAR Busch Series regular to have won two events at Michigan Speedway. Mark Martin, a Winston Cup regular, won two NASCAR Busch Series events at Michigan Speedway (1995 and 1993) while driving a limited Busch Series schedule.

* The win at Michigan moved Bodine to second place in the 2000 points standings.

* The win Saturday boosts Bodine's 2000 stats to 11 top fives and 16 top 10s in 23 starts.

* This is Bodine's third win on the two-mile tracks. He won both inaugural events at Michigan and California Speedways in addition to Saturday's win.

* During the last pit stop of the race, Bodine was one of only two teams to take right side tires only. The gamble paid off for the Phillips 66 team as Bodine returned to competition in the lead where he stayed for the remainder of the event.

* Bodine's career statistics at Michigan Speedway improved to two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Both of Bodine's top-five finishes are wins.

* Bodine's win Saturday was also a family win. Brothers Geoffrey and Brett joined Todd in victory lane along with wife Lynn and daughter Ashlyn Marie.

Todd Bodine Post Race Quotes

On the win . . . "When you run in the top five every week you're going to get a win eventually. We've had seven bad races this year that were nothing but bad luck. Other than those seven races, we've been in the top 10 every week and most of those finishes have been in the top five. The team would get a little down and I came up with this saying. If you give 110 percent and you still don't make it to victory lane and win races, you have no regrets because you know that you gave the best of yourself that day."

On taking two tires . . . "When the caution came we all had just made pit stops so we weren't going to need a lot of fuel to finish the race so we could get what we needed taking only two tires. Donnie (Richeson) thought a lot of teams would take only two tires but as it turned out just about all of them took on four tires. When we got back to green flag racing our car was just as fast and faster than the other cars so we thought it was a good decision to not lose track position. Then the car started getting tight and they were right on my bumper and that's when I started second guessing the two tires. What I did was run up in the same line the guys behind me were running and that helped a lot. I did a little bit of swerving to try and break the draft behind me and it kind of worked. It game me a slight cushion and it kept those teams behind me. So it did work."

Text provided by Penny Copen

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